Lando Calrissian—the smoothest, sneakiest scoundrel this side of Cloud City—is back. According to The Hollywood Reporter, actor Billy Dee Williams has been tapped to reprise his classic role in Star Wars: Episode IX, the next installment in the blockbuster series. Per T.H.R., rumblings about Williams’s potential return recently grew louder, after the actor bowed out of an upcoming sci-fi and pop-culture convention due to a conflict with an unnamed movie schedule. Representatives for Disney have not yet responded to *Vanity Fair’s request for comment.

The decision arrives after months and months of rising Lando hype, thanks to the Solo: A Star Wars Story spin-off. Pop renaissance man Donald Glover played a younger version of the Cloud City smuggler in that film, imbuing the character with every ounce of charm he could muster. His performance pops off the screen, and was highlighted by many critics as one of the film’s best. Glover has also added a bit of vital information to the Star Wars canon, approving of co-screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan’s decision to make the character pansexual. “How can you not be pansexual in space?” Glover later asked. “There’s so many things to have sex with. I’m serious.” Hear that, Williams? The stakes have seriously been raised for Episode IX.

Though recent Lando excitement might have contributed to the decision to bring Williams back to the Star Wars universe, we also know a few things to be true. Firstly: Lucasfilm plans these things out far in advance, so Lando in Episode IX might have been in the cards long before Glover was ever tapped for Solo. And secondly, it did seem like it was only a matter of time before the classic character would be woven back into the main series. The core series has slowly, but surely run out of beloved characters to revive: Han Solo dies in The Force Awakens. Luke Skywalker dissolves into the Force in The Last Jedi. As was previously revealed, Episode IX—to be directed by J.J. Abrams—was supposed to be all about General Leia, but the series had to take a new direction after Carrie Fisher’s death in 2016. (Leia will not appear in the film whatsoever, so put all your digitized Peter Cushing worries to bed—for now.)

Short of Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2, there aren’t a lot of familiar faces—Wookiee, droid, or otherwise—from the past left to be woven into the franchise’s latest line of films, with most responsibility instead being placed on the shoulders of more recent franchise stars John Boyega,Daisy Ridley,Adam Driver, and Oscar Isaac. Meanwhile, Lando, who hits all the right nostalgia points, has been waiting in the wings (er, among the clouds,) the whole time. Episode IX hits theaters on December 20, 2019.